The present invention relates to railroad freight cars useful for carrying motor vehicles, and particularly to cars capable of carrying motor vehicles on either two or three levels.
Railroad freight cars have long been used for transporting newly manufactured motor vehicles long distances from the point of manufacture or a port of arrival to cities where dealerships are located or to railroad terminals where the motor vehicles are reloaded onto trucks for transport over highways to the locations of dealerships. In order for such railroad freight cars to be most economical it is desirable to carry a maximum number of motor vehicles on each railroad car, but it is also desired to be able to carry several different types of motor vehicles on each car and to be able to reconfigure the railroad freight car to carry such different types of vehicles without undue difficulty.
It is known to adjust load-carrying decks in motor vehicle-carrying railroad cars to facilitate carrying different types of motor vehicles, but cars capable of such adjustments in the past have not been completely satisfactory.
Railroad cars are restricted in size to fit within clearance envelopes established by agreements reached among railroads, in order to avoid collisions between trains on adjacent tracks and to ensure that all cars fit within the clearances available along the rail lines at places such as bridges and tunnels.
In order to avoid pilferage or vandalism of motor vehicles and to protect motor vehicles from airborne hazards, many railroad freight cars designed to carry motor vehicles are enclosed and include roofs and end doors. The overall height of such a car, including its roof, is limited by the applicable clearance envelope, in order for the car to be able to be used without special routing considerations. At the same time, however, there must be sufficient interior vertical clearance height for safe carriage of the desired types of motor vehicles, with the railroad freight car in either its bi-level or its tri-level configuration. Also, motor vehicle-carrying railroad cars must meet certain deck height requirements to allow for movement of motor vehicles from car to car in a “circus loading” fashion.
What is needed, then, is an improved railroad freight car which is easily adjustable to serve to carry a maximum number of motor vehicles of different sizes and to provide ample protection of such motor vehicles against pilferage and against damage from the elements, and which is convertible between a tri-level configuration and a bi-level configuration. Such a car should also conform to the clearance envelope applicable to operation on all ordinary rail lines.